Timm Rolek is currently the Artistic Director and principal conductor for Sacramento Opera, a post that he has held for the past twelve seasons.   During his tenure, the company has seen a growth in ticket sales, revenue and audience.  This company is a solid, regional level III company, which offers three productions each season of three performances each in addition to an annual concert and many educational and outreach events and activities.  In the now ever-changing economy, it is to his credit that he is able to present both the familiar, standard operatic repertoire and some works that are less familiar.  His audiences trust both his repertoire selections and his ability to balance and present casts that offer the best of what is available in up- and-coming artists.  His philosophy is that the opera/work is the most important; the casts to populate and sing those works will follow. Rolek has also been involved with education and outreach programs during his tenure with Sacramento Opera, and has worked with the Sacramento, Napa, and Modesto Youth Symphonies, the CSU Sacramento Opera, and has led master classes at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

In addition to his ongoing duties with Sacramento Opera, Maestro Rolek has been a guest conductor with a number of notable companies including Nevada Opera, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Skylight Opera Theatre, Rimrock Opera, Opera Delaware and Chautauqua Opera.  In addition, he held a staff position with the Minnesota Opera and was a part of the conducting staff at the Metropolitan Opera.

Sacramento Opera’s 2010-11 season includes their first venture into presenting baroque opera with performances of Handel’s Orlando in November, followed by Die Zauberflöte in February and the West Coast premiere of Stephen Paulus’ The Postman Always Rings Twice in May.

Its 2009-10 season included  L’elisir d’amore, La Traviata and a double bill that will include the best of both Pique Dame and Eugene Onegin accompanied by narrated portions of the original Pushkin plays spoken in Russian with English subtitles.During the 2008-09 season with Sacramento Opera, he was at the helm for performances of The Pirates of Penzance, Le nozze di Figaro and La Bohème.  This was their first venture into presenting one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s favorite works.  During his tenure with Sacramento Opera, he has developed relationships with many directors for whom he has collaborated any number of times.   This is, in large part, a significant factor in much of the artistic and fiscal success story that is Sacramento Opera today.

Maestro Rolek continues in his role as the Artistic Director and Principle Conductor for the Lake Tahoe Music Festival.  During the summer of 2008 his conducting duties also included collaboration with the Reno Philharmonic.   From 1995 until 2005 Maestro Rolek was the Music Director of the Grand Forks Symphony ND. He returned in 2009 for a Baroque program celebrating their 100th anniversary.  He formerly served as Music Director of the Heartland Symphony (1993-1998) and has been a guest conductor with a number of other symphony orchestras as well.

Timm Rolek’s repertoire is wide-ranging for both the opera stage and for symphony orchestras.  His recordings include Jerre Tanner’s The Kona Coffee Cantata with the Prague Chamber Orchestra, and Joseph Fennimore’s Eventide (both on the Albany/Troy label).  He conducted the American premiere of Ernst Krenek’s Das Geheime Koenigreich and has participated in the Pierre Boulez / IRCAM composers and conductors workshop at Carnegie Hall.  Twin Cities Public Television KTCA-2 featured him on their two-time Emmy Award-winning program Arts on 2. In conjunction with Northern Lights Public Radio, he produced a nine-part radio-program called Music In Our Century.  He has served on a Lila Wallace / Reader’s Digest grant panel, Singer Workshop panel for Opera America, has been a frequent judge for competitions including the National Council Auditions for the Metropolitan Opera.

After studying composition at the University of Minnesota, Maestro Rolek studied conducting with Herbert Blomstedt, Sir Neville Marriner, Klaus Tennstedt, and James Levine.  An avid water sports enthusiast, Rolek has participated in both the Alcatraz Swim across San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Cup sailboat race from San Francisco to Hawaii.  He makes his home in Brookings, Oregon where he serves on the city’s Public Art Committee and the county coalition for the Oregon Cultural Trust. Rolek’s first novel, Deceptive Cadence, is due to be released in 2012.